Toby's Story

by W. Bruce Cameron

  I loved to hear her voice like that, but I had no idea why she was bringing up Lie Still again. I was happy to have the treats, though. After I’d gobbled them up, I stood on the bed and stretched.

  “Careful, Toby.” Mona picked me up cautiously. “Don’t wake Dorothy.”

  She put me on the ground, and I shook all over. I felt good after my long run and my nap. It was probably time to go and look for Eddie. He might have some bacon.

  I dodged between Fran’s feet, and she let out a startled noise. Then I tore out of the room and dashed down the hall, dodging around some of my friends walking with their metal cages and one chair with wheels. “Oh, Toby!” I heard Mona groan, and she played Chase with me all the way to the kitchen.

  12

  A few days later, Mona and I were Training on the lawn—again!—when Patsy came out to visit us. “Fran wants to see us both,” Patsy said to Mona.

  “About Toby?” Mona asked. I could feel her anxiety spike, so I licked her hands.

  “What else?” Patsy said with a sigh.

  I followed Mona and Patsy into Fran’s office. Fran was sitting behind her desk, and there was something new in a corner. It was big and reminded me a little of the metal cages some of my friends leaned on when they walked. I went over to sniff it. It did not smell fun.

  Patsy settled down on the little couch, but Mona was too nervous to sit. I tugged at her shoelace.

  “What’s that?” Mona asked, eying the metal thing.

  “A compromise,” Fran said.

  While Mona and Patsy looked at the metal thing, Fran went on.

  “I know you’ve been training the dog more. Has it worked? Can he be a reliable therapy dog?”

  Mona sighed. “He’s getting better…”

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  “Well, no. Not yet,” Mona admitted. “But everybody loves him, they really do!”

  “He’s been walking with people on the treadmill,” Patsy said quietly. “They do more PT when he’s there.”

  My ears perked. Were we going to do Treadmill?

  “So I’ve seen.” Fran nodded. “And I admit that he was helpful with Dorothy the other day. So here is my compromise. Toby can stay—”

  “He can stay?” Mona burst out. Her face lit up with a smile. “Oh, thank you, Fran!”

  I jumped up on my back legs to lick Mona’s hand, wanting to join in her happiness. Besides, her fingers tasted like treats.

  Fran held up a hand. “You didn’t let me finish. He can stay, as long as he remains in the crate when he’s not working. He can help the residents on the treadmill, and he can play with the children who have relatives in the hospice wing. But other than that, he’s got to be in the crate unless you’re training him. We can’t have him running through the halls anymore. That’s final.”

  Mona’s happiness drained away.

  “In a crate?” she said. “But he’s never had any crate training. He won’t understand why he’s being shut up. And he hasn’t done anything wrong. He’s just got a lot of energy.”

  “Nevertheless, that’s my final decision,” Fran said.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Patsy said.

  I sat down and leaned against Mona’s leg to make her feel better. Once all the people were done talking, she and I could have a good game of Chase. That would fix everything.

  That night, after Mona fed me my dinner, we played in the TV room for a long time, wrestling with a rubber bone. It was excellent! Mona usually left right after giving me my food, but today she didn’t seem to want to go.

  “Mona,” Patsy said, coming up to us with her purse over her shoulder. “Time to leave.”

  “Oh, Mom,” Mona said sadly. She let go of the bone, and I seized it in my teeth and ran around the room in triumph. “I hate to shut him in there. He won’t understand.”

  “I know. But he’ll probably just sleep, honey. And you can let him out in the morning.”

  “If I’d just trained him better … I feel like such a failure, Mom.”

  “No, Mona. Sweetie, you’re not a failure. Listen. We adopted Toby because the rancher told us he was very mellow and calm. That turned out to be a mistake. He was just tired because he was ill. And now he’s better. That’s not your fault or anybody’s fault.” Mona stood up, and Patsy hugged her. “You’ve been working so hard with him, but you’re learning a lesson that’s good for a trainer. You can’t go against a dog’s breed. You can’t train a beagle not to run.”

  Mona sighed and hugged her mother back. Then she came to my side and pulled the chew toy from my teeth. I thought we were going to play more Tug—so exciting! But instead, Mona walked me down the hallway to the little room where my bed was kept.

  To my surprise, the metal cage from Fran’s office was in my room now. And my bed was inside it! So were the bowls with my food and water. Most bewildering of all, Mona tossed the rubber bone inside the open door of the cage. What an odd way to play!

  Of course, I ran in to grab the toy. But when I turned back around so that Mona and I could wrestle some more, Mona shut the door of the cage in my face.

  “Bye, Toby,” she told me, and her voice quivered. “See you tomorrow!”

  She departed very suddenly, leaving me behind.

  People are very odd sometimes. But, well, food is food. I dropped the rubber bone, stuck my nose in my bowl, and began eating in big gulps. Soon I’d finished dinner and licked the bowl clean.

  That was when I realized that I could not get out of the cage!

  I pawed at the door and nudged it hard with my nose. It did not open.

  I barked so that Mona would understand that she had made a mistake. Then she’d come back and get me.

  But she didn’t come back. No one did.

  I tried getting my teeth around the wires. They tasted cold and bitter and horrible. And no matter how I chewed or tugged or twisted, I could not make them move an inch.

  What had happened? Why was I shut in here? Who was going to come back and let me out?

  If I truly belonged to Mona, she would not have left me in here. That was such an awful thought that I had to go back to my bed and lie down. But I couldn’t sleep, so I began to chew and tug at the soft cloth that covered my bed, just like I used to chew on my feet when they itched and ached.

  So Mona was not my person? Was that really true? Would someone else come and let me out of here? Eddie? Patsy? Tyler?

  The cloth of my bed ripped, and something white and fuzzy popped out. It did not taste good at all, but I still nipped at it. Then I trapped it under one paw and pulled at it with my teeth until it came apart in shreds.

  I don’t know why I did these things, but they made me feel a little better.

  After some time had passed and my bed couldn’t be chewed anymore, I got up and bit the cage again. But it only hurt my teeth and my mouth.

  And still, nobody came.

  This was dreadful! I had never felt so alone, so abandoned, so lost. I could not stand it.

  Somehow, I knew just what to do with feelings like this. I sat down, lifted up my muzzle, and let the sadness out in a long, mournful sound. “Arooooo! Aroooo!” I howled.

  I did it over and over again.

  Then, finally, finally, the door to my small room opened. Light from the hallway spilled in. There, in her wheelchair, was Dorothy! Grandad was pushing her, leaning on the handles of her chair.

  “Toby!” Dorothy said.

  I stopped howling. My tail even stirred to life. My friends had come! Thank goodness!

  “Good thing I’ve been spending all that time on the treadmill with Toby!” Grandad said, wheeling Dorothy’s chair farther into the room. “I don’t think I could have pushed this contraption otherwise. There! Can you get Toby’s cage open?”

  A couple of other friends were standing in the door, looking in, as Grandad moved Dorothy closer to me. She reached down and opened the lock on the door.

  In a flash, I had shoved the door open and barreled through. I wa
s out! I was free! I put my front feet in Dorothy’s lap and licked her gentle hands. I raced around Grandad and licked his knees. I greeted all my friends in the hallway and then ran and ran, skidding around corners, sliding into a wall, jumping up and running some more.

  Maybe I belonged to Grandad and Dorothy. Or maybe I didn’t. I still wasn’t sure. They’d come for me, though, and that was all that mattered. I was free, and I could have fun with all my friends, and I would never go back inside that cage again.

  Never!

  13

  That night, I slept at the foot of Grandad’s bed. The next morning, Mona came to feed me and let me outside. After that, she and Patsy and Grandad and Dorothy did a lot of talking. Then Mona and Patsy went into Patsy’s office and talked some more.

  I’d forgiven Mona for her mistake, shutting me up in that cage, so I went with them. But I got bored. When Fran came to the office door, I ran to greet her. She had never played with me yet, but there’s always a first time. I wagged my tail and panted up at her face, trying to let her know that we’d had a lot of fun last night and could have some more now, if she’d join in.

  But she ignored me. “Do you know what happened last night?” she demanded. “People got out of their rooms to play with the dog! The night staff went crazy trying to get everyone back to sleep!”

  “Yes, I’ve heard,” Patsy said.

  “Toby’s not used to the crate. He didn’t understand,” Mona said. She sounded worried.

  Fran let out her breath in an exasperated sigh. “All right. The crate is not a success. Then the dog has to go outside at night. It’s summer; he’ll be fine. Dogs sleep outside all the time.”

  “I don’t know,” Mona said with a little worry still in her voice. “He’s used to wandering around inside at night.”

  “That,” said Fran sharply, “is one of the problems we are trying to fix.”

  I’d had enough of listening to people make words at each other, so I went off to look for someone to throw the ball for me.

  That afternoon, after dinner, Mona took me outside. To my surprise, there was a new bed lying in the grass! My water bowl was next to it. I sniffed both. How strange.

  “Your bed’s going to be out here now, Toby,” Mona said, rubbing behind my ears. “At least for a while. You just have to learn to be calm. No more howling at night, all right?”

  I licked her hands and looked up at her. Was it time to go inside now?

  Then she pulled a ball from her pocket. Perfect! My whole body leaped to attention. She threw the ball, and I bounded after it.

  When I brought it back, Mona had gone!

  Gone! How could she have forgotten how to play this game? I was supposed to get the ball, while she stood and waited until I brought it back to her. That’s what she had always done before. What on earth had happened this time?

  With the ball still in my mouth, I ran over to the door and waited in front of it. I had noticed that whenever I sat near a door, it opened. Usually, one of my friends would be standing beside it to say, “Hi, Toby. Come on in.” Or “Okay, Toby. Out you go.”

  But this time, the door did not work, for some reason. It did not open. I was stuck on one side with my ball, and Mona was on the other!

  I dropped the ball and barked so people would come and fix the door.

  But no one came.

  I whined. I scratched at the door. I put my front paws on it and barked some more.

  Still no one came.

  How could this be happening? All the old, lonely feelings from last night came back in a rush, even stronger this time. I didn’t even have the energy to howl, to let the world know that a lost, lonely, miserable dog was outside by himself.

  I crept back to my new bed. It smelled very strange and new, not at all like a bed should smell, of dust and dirt and dog.

  I curled up on the cushion with my nose on my tail. I wished my mother were here to wrap her body around mine and comfort me with her touch.

  But no one was here. I was all alone.

  It now felt like I didn’t belong to anyone at all.

  After a while, I fell asleep. There was nothing else to do. In the morning, light woke me, along with a squirrel sitting on a branch overhead and scolding me for being there.

  I got up and shook and stretched. At least one good thing had come of my being left out here, all by myself—I didn’t have to wait for anyone to let me out so I could pee.

  Then something terrific happened.

  The door opened! It worked again! And Mona was standing there, smiling at me!

  I dashed inside and threw myself at her, trying to cuddle with her and lick her and run with her all at once, trying to tell her that something awful had happened, that I’d been left alone all night long, but that it was all right now because she’d come back at last. But she should never do that to me again!

  “Okay, Toby. Okay, sweetie,” she said over and over, stroking her hands all over me, from my head to my tail. “Come on now. Time for breakfast.”

  I knew that word. Breakfast! I began to feel better.

  After breakfast, I did quick visits with all my friends. Eddie had not forgotten about bacon. Dorothy threw the ball for me. Grandad was sitting in a chair in his room, writing on a piece of paper with a pen. When I ran in, he looked up and laughed. He had a treat for me, which I was happy to accept.

  “Quieter night this time, huh, Toby?” he asked, scratching my neck. I wagged for my name.

  “How did Toby do outside all night?” another voice asked, and Tyler was standing in the doorway.

  Another friend! I ran over to him to get more attention, and he and Grandad talked while I sniffed Tyler’s shoes and pulled at his shoelaces until they were long and loose.

  “I’m sorry I can’t be there for your first meet,” Grandad said to Tyler. “I wanted to cheer you on, but…”

  “I know,” Tyler said quietly as he retied his shoelaces. “I’ll tell you all about it. Or you know Mom will video every minute. Hey, Toby, let’s go find Mona. I have to ask her something.”

  I heard Mona’s name and charged down the hallway to find her.

  Once we found her in the TV room, Mona and Tyler stood and talked and talked and talked. I hunted around until I discovered one of my chew toys under a chair. I brought it over to them happily. Now they’d have something more interesting to do.

  But they didn’t understand. Humans often don’t. Mona and Tyler just stood and talked and smiled at each other. I had to lie down and chew on the toy all by myself.

  “You’re not going to run with the team anymore?” Mona asked.

  “Well, it’s not really a team. Just sort of a summer club. They do have meets, though. And they said I could tag along, but the thing is, they’ve all been running since sixth grade, and they’re a little older than me, too. A couple of them are going into high school in the fall. I can’t really keep up, and it’s kind of…”

  “Yeah, I know, that doesn’t sound too fun.” Mona laughed, for not much reason that I could see.

  “So I want to run by myself for a little while, until I’m better. Toby’s good company, though. I like running with him. You think it’s okay if he goes running with just me? I guess it’s a little different from running with the whole club.”

  “Sure, I guess. Well, maybe we should ask Fran.”

  “Fran? The one who’s in charge? She’s kind of scary.”

  Mona laughed again. “I know! But she’ll say yes, I’m sure, because she loves getting Toby out of here.”

  I perked up my ears for my name, but clearly, neither of them was about to pet me or play with me or give me a treat.

  “She’s crazy. My Grandad loves Toby. Everybody does!”

  “I know. But we’ll ask her about the running thing, anyway. Mom says she likes to be asked. I know—we’ll get Mom to come with us. Fran will listen to Mom.”

  Tyler and Mona and Patsy went to talk to Fran. So much talking! Even Training was better than this.
/>   Then Tyler left. “See you tomorrow morning, then, Toby,” he said.

  “A nice boy,” Fran said to Patsy. “It was very responsible of him to come and check about running with Toby by himself.”

  I was bored with my chew toy by now, so I decided to lick Mona’s ankles instead.

  “I can certainly see that Mona thinks he’s a nice boy,” Fran said, and Mona picked me up and hugged me and put her face in my fur as if she didn’t want anybody to see it.

  * * *

  It was very odd, but that night, Mona made the same mistake again! She put me in the backyard, threw a ball for me to chase, and forgot to wait for me to give it back to her!

  How could I get her to understand? I barked and whined and scratched at the door and even let my sadness out with more of those long aroooooo howls. But Mona must not have been able to hear me, because she did not come back to get me until the sky had gotten light again in the morning.

  Tyler came, too, that morning and took me outside so that we could run. But to my surprise, there were no other boys waiting for us outside the front door. Just Tyler.

  I looked up at him, wondering where the boys had gone. Did we need to chase them?

  But it seemed that we didn’t, because Tyler just tightened up his shoelaces and started jogging down the road. I ran after him with a bark of delight, my lonely night in the yard forgotten.

  If Tyler and I ran together, just him and me, did that mean I belonged to Tyler? It was a nice thought. But what about Mona? Even though she kept forgetting to bring me in from the yard, I still loved her. And I loved Eddie, too. And his bacon, of course.

  It was very confusing, but I spotted a rabbit to chase, so I decided that was more important.

  We ran a long time that morning, and when we got back, I was panting as hard as I could, with my tongue hanging out. Tyler found Mona to give her my leash, and I could tell she was glad to see me.

  “Good, I’m glad you’re back with Toby,” she said to him. “We need him.”

  She let me drink most of my water bowl, which I was happy to do, and then she took me to the part of my home that I thought of as the Quiet Place.